Oregonians can now buy marijuana for recreational use at shops intended for that purpose, after regulatory agencies approved licenses for 26 retailers around the state, meeting a key deadline almost two years after voters passed a measure legalizing pot.

Marijuana sold legally in Oregon had been tested before, but now the labs must be accredited, and the packaging labeled with the lab results.

Colorado pot businesses are increasingly coming under scrutiny from the IRS due to the industry's focus on cash and reporting requirements such as Form 8300, Marijuana Business Daily reports.

Dispensaries and cannabis companies are known to deal predominantly in cash as continued U.S. banking restrictions make it difficult for them to have bank accounts with federally chartered financial institutions.

A landmark ruling by a Vancouver judge has cleared the way for Canadian medical marijuana users to grow pot at home, but recreational marijuana use still remains illegal across the country, despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's pledge to legalize the drug.

Ohio voters have soundly rejected a measure that would have made it the first U.S. Midwestern state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana by nearly a two-to-one margin.

Analysts said the proposal was criticized for granting main backers of the measure cartel-like powers over the industry in the state for several years, an arrangement that rubbed many voters who supported legalization of the drug the wrong way.

Greengro Technologies (GRNH) invests in Cannabis Ventures to support its application with Health Canada. It will also extend its expertise in indoor/outdoor agricultural science systems for the medical pot growth operations. CEO James Haas says, "We have several turn-key products that will immediately benefit the groups that have received their MMPR license.

The two companies will explore further business opportunities regarding Greengro's Modular Gro systems for the Canadian market. The Modular Gro systems will also be introduced for interior grow rooms under Canadian guidelines.

Colorado is off to a fast start collecting tax revenue from the sale of medicinal and recreational marijuana. According to Forbes, the state's January take was $1.5M for the former and $2M for the latter. The bulk of sales happen in Denver county.

The fully-burdened tax rate can be as high as 21.1% on pot consumers.

The state also charges a 15% "retail marijuana excise tax" that is levied on the first sale or transfer from a cultivation facility.

The state now faces the political problem about how and where to spend the money.

The rules allow banks to do business with marijuana sellers deemed to be obeying state laws, and not running afoul of eight principles, which include selling to minors and trafficking marijuana to states where it's illegal to do so. However, banks will have to file suspicious activity reports detailing transactions made by marijuana vendors.

The National Cannabis Industry Association calls the ruling, which comes six weeks after Colorado began legal marijuana sales, a "huge victory." But many observers think top U.S. banks will still tread cautiously.

But GW Pharmaceuticals (GWPH+23.5%), a more established name that yesterday priced a 2.4M-share follow-on offering at $36, went in the other direction.

With demand outstripping expectations, Colorado is (for now) arguably seeing the marijuana equivalent of the 1970s oil crisis: Long lines, shortages, rationing, and soaring prices have become the norm for licensed dispensaries.

Words of caution from seasoned investors about putting money into pot plays are easy to find. Fund manager Frank Igarra: "There might be one or two that survive, but having seen crazes like this, people have been burned by them a lot. The average investor should think twice."

Investors apparently have taken the big crowds outside marijuana retailers in Colorado as a harbinger of potential growth in the still-new industry after the state launched the first legal U.S. sale of recreational pot.

Most of the companies that could benefit are very small, with MediSwipe (MWIP), which sells transaction processing systems to the medical industry, perhaps the most established; others include GreenGro Tech (GRNH), which sells growing systems and equipment popular with pot farmers; Medbox (MDBX), which makes storage and dispensing machines for controlled medicines; and GW Pharmaceuticals (GWPH), which focuses on medicines derived from marijuana.